The Church must celebrate and make room for difference and diversity in its ranks if it is to continue to affirm a central teaching of the Gospel, a visiting archbishop from the western Pacific has told a Parramatta audience. Source: Catholic Outlook.
Archbishop Ryan Jimenez, of Agaña in Guam, spoke at the Cloister Hall at St Patrick’s Cathedral on April 21. He discussed the topic of “An immigrant bishop for an immigrant Church” as part of the Bishop Vincent Presents series of lectures.
While in Parramatta he met Catholic teachers and vice-principals, Filipino clergy and members of the Filipino community.
An immigrant himself, Archbishop Jimenez was born and grew up in the Philippines before moving to the US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, near Guam, to teach at a Catholic school. He stayed in the archipelago and was appointed Archbishop of Agaña in 2024.
This early experience living as an outsider influenced his view “that boundaries – ethnic, cultural, historical – still shape how we relate to one another”.
“If I am considered an outsider, who gets to be inside? And who decides who is inside and who is outside?” he told the Parramatta gathering.
“I recall the words of St Paul … that ‘there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is no male and female, for [we] are all one in Christ Jesus’.”
He said it was not enough to aim for tolerance, but rather for true communion, which was “a shared life marked by encounter, dialogue and mutual transformation, rather than merely coexistence of cultures”.
Thus, the multicultural way of existing side by side should be extended to be “intercultural”, where people listen, share and grow together and “truly encounter one another”.
He said three steps were needed for this to occur: languages of all groups needed to be included where possible, especially indigenous languages; parishes needed to be “shared” between cultural groups that worship at separate masses within the parish; and in parish leadership, decision-making must be shared and not tokenistic.
Archbishop Jimenez said these steps would often be uncomfortable and difficult, but “discomfort is not failure, it’s an invitation for communion, for integration”.
Parramatta Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of Parramatta, told Archbishop Jimenez he was grateful for his courage, “deep faith steeped in pathos and your prophetic message for the Church today”.
FULL STORY
‘Who gets to be inside?’ An Archbishop’s vision for a more inclusive Church (By Antony Lawes, Catholic Outlook)
